The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D.250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.

　　瑪雅文明是最富盛名的早期文明之一。瑪雅人發(fā)展了天文，歷法，文字，同時在建筑上包括寺廟、宮殿和瞭望臺有很高的造詣，這些建筑均不適用金屬。同時他們是經(jīng)驗豐富的種植者，在缺水的地方開辟大型水庫儲存雨水，同時他們善于編制、制陶，開辟通道與遠(yuǎn)距離的人們進(jìn)行貿(mào)易往來。

　　關(guān)鍵詞：astronomy, calendrical, hieroglyphic writing, architecture, reservoir, weaver, potter, swamp

　　Around 300 B.C., the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. This civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the Classic period, A.D. 200-900. Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centres. It started to decline around A.D. 900 when - for reasons which are still largely a mystery - the southern Maya abandoned their cities. When the northern Maya were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some peripheral centres continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.

　　瑪雅人采用君主制。各地自治管理。公元900年，瑪雅社會開始走向衰退，而衰退的原因一直是一個謎。公元1200年，瑪雅北部團結(jié)成為托爾鐵克。

　　關(guān)鍵詞：hierarchical, peripheral, thrive

　　Maya history can be characterized as cycles of rise and fall: city-states rose in prominence and fell into decline, only to be replaced by others. It could also be described as one of continuity and change, guided by a religion that remains the foundation of their culture. For those who follow the ancient Maya traditions, the belief in the influence of the cosmos on human lives and the necessity of paying homage to the gods through rituals continues to find expression in a modern hybrid Christian-Maya faith.

　　瑪雅文明對后世有著深刻的影響：宇宙觀，對上帝的敬仰。